active rain: Top Builders - Why so few? Time to get builders involved - 10/03/07 05:18 PM
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active rain: Calling all Home Builders - Top 25 Home Builders on Active Rain - 06/17/07 07:44 AM
Here's the list of top point holders here on Active Rain.   Generally home builders and new construction real estate sales specialists are under-represented.  Time to get our friends in new construction into the community tent with us!
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active rain: 100th Post! Active Rain taught me the ropes - 04/15/07 06:07 PM
In the fall of 2006, while the home building market was still sluggish and interest rates were threatening to go up a bit more, I signed on here with this Active Rain community.  To say it's been a journey is an understatement.  I have learned and researched and grown tremendously here.
First, for those that don't read my posts regularly, I am a home builder in Porter County Indiana, which is just south of Chicago along the Southshore and in the Region we call Northwest Indiana.  My company Synergy Homes is bascially a first time home buyer and credit challenged buyer machine!  … (4 comments)

active rain: Home Builders of America - Dalton's Review II - 04/15/07 05:23 PM

New Home Marketing
Tips and Articles for the Real Estate Industry - New Home Construction - Sales and Marketing with Internet Search Engines, Email and More.
http://newhomemarketing.blogspot.com/
Have You Thanked Your Builder Today? Myers Barnes
 
Why your builder should love the internet  
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active rain: Porter County Indiana New Real Estate Blogger - 04/15/07 04:49 PM
 
Please join me in welcoming a good friend to Active Rain.  Linda and I worked together on the 2003 Costas for Mayor campaign.  I think she personally walked half the streets in Valparaiso. 
I will post her links over at Synergy Thoughts and also at Porter County Politics. 
Now Linda, I know you can write, I am highly looking forward to your blogs on Porter County and Northwest Indiana in general. 
 
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active rain: Blogging Systems - Paul Chaney Teleconference - 04/10/07 12:03 PM
Today I had the chance to talk to Paul Chaney from Blogging Systems for over an hour. Frankly, I felt a bit priveleged to be able to pick his brain on blogging for real estate and home building. Thanks Paul.He gave me a list of some terrific sites, and below I've listed the articles that appealed to me to do some futher digging:
File Under Wine Spelunking - My wife and I are thinking about Napa Valley, and this post got me even more excited. One User Account for all RE Applications - I'd sure love to have only one user account … (3 comments)

active rain: Carnival of Me - 03/20/07 03:19 PM
My Own Little Personal Carnival - Daltons Carnival - Daltons Gang?
Not necessarily just real estate - but definitely interesting to me - today at least
 
Google Image Ripper - Found this via Seth's blog, (actually by way of http://www.marketinghipster.com/) but it is handy little tool for finding images on the web.
 
Marketing Hipster also alerted me to Twitter another in a long line of digg type and clipp type communities (also see below a possible big link creator)
Did you know that 2000 Bloggers still continues, yep that little one hit phenom from last month that got a bunch of us a couple hundred … (5 comments)

active rain: Feel Invincible? - 02/18/07 03:50 PM
I watched the movie Invincible with my son tonite again.  Sure it's just like Rudy or a host of other unsung hero type movies where the underdog makes it finally.
While I watched the movie I read the posts of the bloggers I subscribe to here on Active Rain.  Unsung hero types themselves.  They donate their ideas and their advice so that real estate professionals can be challenged and grow.  Here's my salute to them for their posts today, no they weren't all featured, but they were featured for me. 
"Have You ever Lost Your Voice?" Rich Jacobson comes back and finds his voice
Book: … (3 comments)

active rain: Briefly - 5 things to mull and consider this week - 01/25/07 10:21 AM
I've been doing a little weekly survey of blogs and ideas, looking for creative and "out of the box" ideas and philosophies that can challenge me to grow:
Cold Calling Philosophy V. Real Estate is not a numbers Game - I think rookies have to cold call, even though a long term business plan should phase it out in favor of Sphere of Influence selling.
You mean I have to work again? Great list that helped me get my priorities straight right off.  Do I schedule to do things that matter, or just stay busy?
I got People - Social networking - I have actually used that … (4 comments)

active rain: Sad saga in Northwest Indiana - Bigger Questions - 01/20/07 06:50 AM
Here's how the story goes:
"With her attorney at her side, Mary Ann Winslow, 50, spoke to The Times on Friday about how sending fliers to her north-side neighbors resulted in her being fired by McColly Real Estate from a job she loved" exerpted from www.nwi.com  (by the way Northwest Indiana's best community information site with a brand new look)
A little geography lesson.  In Northwest Indiana, Lake County to be specific, the 1960's and 1970's were dominated by people leaving Gary, Indiana and moving south and east.  Some moved for jobs, some moved for open spaces, and yes indeed some moved due … (13 comments)

active rain: Action Plan - Active Rain Ideas - 01/15/07 12:35 AM
Last Monday I skimmed through AR and picked up five ideas to implement or brainstorm.  I thought it might be a good idea to keep that rolling again today.  This kinda functions like my own little Carnival of Ideas for the day or week.
Off with their Heads - I think I'll review all my listings today.  We have probably 16 specs listed right now and I have a funny feeling I won't be happy to see what our listings are saying to the outside world.  Can't believe I didn't think of this until I read this post.Lots of site updates on … (6 comments)

active rain: A couple things to do today - 01/09/07 11:32 PM
I decided to jump on AR this morning and find a couple things I could do in between my lunch meeting and my 3:00 meeting this afternoon.  I figured with 13,000 members I could grab some good ideas to work on during my "creative" time today.
Romance Your Clients .... Sending Email Notes was a great reminder that I need to be emailing my clients and network weekly at least with "things I thought you'd be interested in" Sent out 125. Wow that felt good.
The Value of Vacation reminded me that during staff meeting I got sidetracked and didn't nail down new … (3 comments)